In driver’s seat: Lincoln-Way East’s Hayven Smith finds calling with offers from Illinois and Harvard. ‘I was pretty much in shock.’

Lincoln-Way East junior Hayven Smith had a car ride on Dec. 14 she will never forget.

It included two college scholarship offers.

The first call came from Illinois coach Shauna Green.

“We talk every once in a while,” Smith said. “I thought it would be our usual 5-10 minute check-in like, ‘How are you doing? How’s basketball going?’

“I wasn’t expecting much more than that. But then she ended up offering me.”

The moment Smith hung up, the phone rang again. It was Harvard coach Carrie Moore.

“It was the first time I had ever talked to her,” Smith said. “Sometimes, coaches have things they say when they’re about to offer like, ‘Oh, you’d be a good fit. And that’s why you’d be a good fit.’ I was like, ‘There’s no way this is about to happen.’”

But it did.

“Right after, I was pretty much in shock,” Smith said. “It makes me feel so blessed to have all of the opportunities that basketball has given me.”

Smith, a 6-foot-5 power forward/center, already has seven offers, counting Purdue, Rice, Butler, Cleveland State and North Dakota.

In her junior season, Smith is averaging 14 points and 9.1 rebounds. She earned all-tournament honors Friday as Lincoln-Way East (10-2) won the championship of the Marian Catholic Christmas Classic.

“Every year, Hayven has taken a big step forward,” Griffins coach Jim Nair said. “She’s always had a good touch, but this season she’s finishing better. She’s using her body to create more space before she gets the ball.

“She’s really making a presence on the glass this season. She’s pulling in rebounds and she’s shooting at a great clip from inside. She really works hard during the summer to make herself better.”

Smith has had some pretty impressive workout partners, including former Chicago Bulls standout Will Perdue.

“We talk on the phone because he’s good friends with my dad,” Smith said. “We haven’t had a lot of opportunities to get into the gym, but he still does a lot for me. Over the summer he came to one of my travel games in Louisville and talked with my dad about my game.”

This past summer, Smith went above and beyond to toughen up.

“For travel, we have a month where we don’t have tournaments,” Smith said. “During that time, I went with my trainer to these open (gyms) in Western Springs where anybody can come. It was mostly boys or men who were either playing college basketball or committed to play basketball or had played overseas.

“Throughout that month, I was playing against them, trying to get rebounds and score against them.”

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They didn’t go easy on her.

“No, they didn’t care,” Smith said, laughing. “But it helped me a lot. It was very competitive. While we were playing, they were also giving me tips on things to do. Even when I went back to AAU, it felt really different.”

Taking over: Senior guard Janiyah Saverson is fully recovered from a knee injury that cost her most of her junior season for Thornwood. As a senior, she’s averaging 13 points.

Thunderbirds coach Kevin Green says she’s all in on … well, everything.

“If I need her to defend the best player, she will,” Smith said. “If I need a rebound, she’ll pull it down. If I need her to get to the basket, she’ll go after it.

“And she’s a verbal leader. In every huddle she has something to say to the girls to get them hyped. The team really follows her lead.”

Did you know? The Southland record for free throws made in a game is 24. In December 1994, Homewood-Flossmoor’s Laura Valente shot 24 of 31 during a game against Providence-St. Mel. The Illinois High School Association record is 33, set in 1990 by Williamsville’s Angie Sapp.